How does a DinaCard payment work?
Online, a DinaCard payment looks like any card payment. The shopper enters the card number, expiry date and security code on the payment form. Some issuing banks add an extra identity check for each online purchase, and the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) reminds cardholders never to enter their PIN for an online payment and to pay only on pages whose address starts with https. The acquirer recognises the card as DinaCard from its number and sends it through the national scheme to the issuing bank, which approves or declines. The merchant is settled in dinars by its acquiring bank.
DinaCard is accepted where the merchant’s acquirer supports it. The NBS says every domestic DinaCard holder can pay online at the web shops of domestic merchants that accept DinaCard, and that shoppers should look for the DinaCard logo. A store that does not show the logo, or whose acquirer cannot process the scheme, will decline these cards.
Some cards work abroad too. Co-badged DinaCard-DFS cards carry the international acceptance of the Discover, Pulse and Diners Club International networks, so a holder can use the same card outside Serbia where those networks are accepted, while domestic payments run on DinaCard.
Why does DinaCard matter for merchants?
It is part of the domestic card base. The NBS counted 13.30 million payment cards in Serbia at the end of 2025, and its DinaCard site gives a figure of 2 million DinaCard cards issued. A merchant or provider that cannot process DinaCard turns those shoppers away, often with an error they do not understand.
It is cheap to accept. The NBS sets DinaCard interchange at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards, which keeps the cost of acceptance low for merchants whose acquirers support the scheme.
It is run by the central bank. DinaCard is the national payment card system of Serbia and is operated by the NBS, which also runs the IPS instant payment system. Merchants selling in Serbia meet both national schemes in the same market.
Card surcharges are not allowed. Article 41 of the Law on Payment Services stops merchants charging customers a fee for paying by card, whichever scheme the card uses.
What can go wrong?
The acquirer may not route the scheme. If the merchant’s acquirer or payment provider cannot process DinaCard, the card is declined at the first step, so routing needs to know which acquirers accept it.
Authentication can stop the payment. Where the issuing bank adds an identity check, a shopper who does not complete it leaves the order unpaid.
Refunds and disputes follow the acquiring bank. Card refunds go back to the card through the acquirer that took the payment, and disputes are handled under the scheme and the acquiring bank’s rules, so a merchant should confirm both with its acquirer before launch.
How would Omno handle DinaCard?
A merchant would accept DinaCard on the same card form as Visa and Mastercard, in the hosted checkout or with Card Fields on its own checkout. Routing rules set by the merchant would recognise DinaCard by its card number and send it only to acquirers that accept the scheme, through connected providers. If the chosen route were unavailable or rejected the request, the payment would move to the next acquirer in the rule until one accepts. The final status would reach the merchant by webhook, which is the source of truth for confirming an order. The routing-decision log would record which acquirer handled each payment.